Fluorescence microscopy is widely used in molecular and cell biology and other applications for non-invasive, time-resolved imaging. Despite these advantages, standard fluorescence microscopy is not useful for ultra-structural imaging, due to a resolution limit set by the diffraction of light. Several approaches have been employed to try to pass this diffraction limit, including near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM), stimulated emission depletion (STED), reversible saturable optical linear fluorescence transition (RESOLFT), and saturated structured-illumination microscopy (SSIM), but each has certain unsatisfactory limitations. Electron microscopy is often used for high resolution imaging of biological samples, but electron microscopy uses electrons, rather than light, and is difficult to use with biological samples due to its preparation requirements. Accordingly, new techniques, including non-invasive techniques are needed to harness the benefits of fluorescence microscopy, for ultra-resolution imaging of biological and other samples, e.g., to allow molecular specificity and/or compatibility with live biological samples.